Beet digging and lifting machine.



G. C. THAYER.

BEET DIGGING AND LIFTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FlLED APR. 13. 1916.

1,215,745; Patnted Feb. 13,1917.

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BEET DIGGING AND LIFTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 13' I916.

G. C. THAYER.

BEET DIGGING AND LIFTING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED APR-13.1916.

1,215,745. Patented Feb. 13,1917.

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GARRISON C. THAYER, OF BARTLESVILLE, OKLAHOMA.

BEE! DIGG-ING AND LIFTING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Application filed April 13, 1916. Serial No. 90,945.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GARRISON C. THAYER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bartlesville, in the county of Washington and State of Oklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Beet Digging and Lifting Machines; and .I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make-and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in beet harvesters-and more particularly to digging and lifting means for the beets, the ob ject of the invention being to improve upon the general construction of mechanisms of this class to such an extent as to provide an extremely simple yet highly eflicient and durable machine.

' lVith this general object in view, the invention resides in certain novel features of construction and in unique combinations of claimed, the descriptive matter being supplemented by the accompanying drawings which constitute a part of this application and in'which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a beet harvesting machine showing the subject matter of the present invention in connection with the beet topping mechanism shown and described in my copending application, Serial No. 90,946, filed Apr. 13, 1916;

F igs 2 and 3 are longitudinal sectional views taken on the planes indicated by the lines 22 and 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Figs. 4 and 5 are vertical transverse sections as seen respectively on the planes of the lines 44 and 55 of Figs. 2 and 3;

Fig. 6 is a detail horizontal section through the beet digging means showing the elevating conveyer in plan, taken substantially on the line 66 of Fig. 3.

In specifically describing the construction shown in the drawings above briefly described, similar characters will be placed on corresponding parts throughout the several views and reference will be herein made to the numerous elements by their respective indices. To this end, the numeral 1 designates a suitable frame mounted on front wheels 2 and rear wheels 3, the axle of said front wheels being connected with a tongue 4, while the axle 5 of the rear wheels 3 is rotatably mounted in suitable bearings and serves as driving means for all moving parts of the machine.

The subject matter of the present inven tion is located at the rear of the frame 1 while at the front end of this frame a beet Patented Feb. 13, 1917.

topping mechanism M is disposed. Briefly speaking, this mechanism comprises a reciprocating cutter C driven through suit-able connections from the axle 5, an endless belt conveyer BC leading rearwardly from said cutter, a frame structure F carrying the cutter G and conveyer BC and adjustable vertically at will through the instrumentality of levers L, a second endless belt conveyer BC, and boxes B at the opposite ends of The mechanism M constitutes no part of the present invention and is merely illustrated and briefly described for the purpose of clearly illustrating the application of the improved beet digging and conveying means. This means comprises briefly a plow P, an inclined longitudinal conveyer. IC and an inclined transverse conveyer IC.

The plow P includes a pair of-transversely spaced upright side plates 10 between whose lower ends an inclined bottom plate 11 extends, said bottom plate having secured adjustably thereto a shovel 12 to enter the ground and plow the beets therefrom. The outer faces of the side plates 10 contact with transversely spaced upright guide tracks 13 and are provided with guide brackets 14 which engage the opposite edges of said tracks, whereby both plates 10 and parts carried thereby may be raised and lowered at will but may not move forwardly or rearwardly. The upper ends of the plates 10 are secured to the opposite ends of a transverse yoke bar 15, the'lower end of an upright adjusting screw 16 being swiveled by a ball bearing or the like 17 to said bar,

70 I said last named conveyer. The cutter G is per ends of the tracks 13. By this arrangement, it will be evident that adjusting of the screw 16 by the wheel 18 will raise and lower the plates 10 to force the shovel 12' and bottom. late 11 more or less into the earth according to the length of the beets being dug.

The upright tracks 13 may be mounted in anyone of a number of ways but they are preferably carried by upwardly and inwardly inclining arms 21 which are secured totlie side bars of the frame 1, the lower ends of-said arms having right angularly disposed flanges 22 which are bolted respectively to the upper and inner sides of the aforesaid side bars.

The frame of the conveyer 10 includes a pair of upwardly and rearwardly inclined side bars 25 whose lower ends are mounted pivotally upon a transverseshaft 26 extending between the lower ends of the side plates 10 .at the rear edges of the latter, the ends of said shaft being rotatably mounted in removable bearings 27 secured to the aforesaid plates. An additional transverse shaft 28 extends between the upper ends of the bars 25, both shafts 26 and 28 having thereon sprocket wheels around which an endless belt 29'is trained, this belt preferably having a plurality of spaced transverse rods 30 in order that the-earth may fall from the beets through the spaces between said rods as said beets are conveyed upwardly. The side bars 25 are pivoted at 25 to an arched transverse rock shaft 25 which rises from the frame 1.

To facilitate jarring of the earth from the beets, rotary jiggers 31 are mounted between the side bars .25, said jiggers being preferably diamond shaped in transverse section and being so disposed in respect to the upper reach of the belt 29 as to vibrate" said reach as 'it moves upwardly. The shafts 32 of the jiggers 31 are connected by a sprocket chain 33 and the lowermost of said shafts is driven by an additional chain 34 from a transverse shaft 35 mounted rotatably on the frame-1, said last named shaft being rotated from the axle 5 throughthe instrumentality of a crossed sprocket chain 36 or by anysuitable gearing. The upper shaft 28 of the conveyer IC is drivenfrom the uppermost shaft 32 through the instrumentality of a sprocket chain 37.

The sprocket chain 34' is. rather slack in order to allow vertical adjustment of the frame of the conveyer IC with the plow P and in order to overcome this slack sufficiently to permitproper operation of parts,

a chain tightener 34* is provided, said tightener being mounted on a transverse rock shaft34 operable at will from a hand lever 34 connected therewith by a rod 34 (see Fig. 1).

he transverse conveyer 10' upon which the conveyer IG delivers consists of a suitable frame 40 having rollers or the like 41 at its opposite ends, an'endless belt 42 being trained around said .rollers and driven by means to bedescribed. The frame 40 is 'rlgidly secured near its lower end to the .arms of a U-shaped bracket 43, said arms being shown in the presentoembodiment of the invention as having vertically extending flanges 44 secured to the opposite sides of said frame. A circular base plate 45 is preferably cast integrally with the lower end of the bracket 43, sald plate resting on the horizontal top bar of an arched frame 46 which may well be constructed of a single metal casting secured by bolts or the like 47 to the rear transverse bar of the frame 1, and by mounting the bracket 43 suitably. 'upon the frame 46 it is allowed to turn upon an upright axis to permit the conveyer 1G to deliver to either side of the machine.

In the present embodiment of the Invention, an upright shaft 48 is rotatably mounted in the frame'46 and'extends through the base of the bracket 43, said shaft serving as a pivotal mounting for said bracket. The lower end of the shaft 48 has thereon a beveled pinion 49 meshing with a beveled gear 50 on the inner end of a transverse shaft 51, the latter being driven by a sprocket chain or the like 52 from the shaft 435. The upper end of the shaft 48 is provided with a beveled gear 53 meshing with a pinion 54 on a shaft 55 which extends transversely of the frame 40 and is rotatably mounted in bearings carried by the arms of the bracket 43. A sprocket chain 56 drives the lower roller 41 from the shaft 55 as shown clearly in Fig. 1.

For holding the bracket 43 normally against turning, the base thereof is formed with a pair of diametrically opposed sockets 60 (see Fig. 3), said sockets cooperating with a spring-pressed bolt 61 mounted in any suitable manner on the machine. For retracting the bolt 61 to permit the conveyer frame 40 to be reversed, a crank. arm 62 extends rearwardly from a transverse rock shaft 63 and is pivotally and slidably connected with the lower end of said bolt, the shaft 63 having another crank arm 64 which preferably extends vertically and is pivoted to the rear end of an operating link 65, the front end of the latter being connected to a hand lever 66 disposed at a suitable point. This lever will be preferably positioned in close. proximity to a seat 67 which will be occupied by a person controlling the hand wheel 18 and the lever L. which operates the sliding bottoms B of the boxes B. Another operator will occupy an additional seat 68 which is' so located as to allow the control levers L of the mechanism M to be readily "actuated.

From the foregoing, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, all fea-.

tures of construction and the manner of operation thereof will be readily understood and it will be observed that a comparatively simple machine has been provided which will be highly efiicient and durable.

ings of the plow and of the conveyers IO and 10' since these features are the most important of the invention.

In conclusion, I will state that although I have shown and described certain specific details of construction for accomplishing probably the best results, numerous changesmay be made within the scope of the invention as claimed without sacrificing the main advantages thereof.

I claim:

1. In combination, a portable frame, a pair of transversely spaced upright tracks carried thereby, a plow mounted between said tracks, said plow including a pair of spaced upright side plates contacting slidably with said tracks and having guides en- I gaging the same, an earth penetrating plate extending between the lower ends of said side plates, and a rigid transverse bar extending between the upper ends thereof; an arched frame secured to and rising from the upper'ends of the aforesaid tracks, and

an adjusting screw mounted on said frame and having connection with the aforesaid transverse bar, said screw being adapted to Partlcular emphasis is laid upon the mount-- adjust the entire plow vertically between the tracks.

2. In combination, a portable frame ine eluding a pair of longitudinally extending side bars, a pair of upwardly and inwardly inclining arms having horizontal and vertical flanges on their lower ends secured in contact respectively with the upper and inner sides of said side bars, a pair of vertically disposed tracks carried by the upper ends of said arms, an arched transverse bar secured rigidly at its ends to the upper ends of said tracks, a pair of sideplates adjacent the inner sides of said tracks and having guides traveling thereon to permit vertical sliding of said plates, a rigid transverse bar secured to and extending between the upper ends of saidside plates, a jackscrew sup nesses.

GARRISON C."THAYER. Witnesses:

GEORGE B. KEELER, J. E. CATO. 

